


As the Current Flows

by bakagou



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Light Angst, M/M, Pro-Bending, also all the of the problems in this fic are causes by tsukki's insecurities, also please validate me with kudos and comments, also some minor ships include aki/saoko enno/tanaka and kuro/daichi, also tsukki is less of an ass because he doesn't have his Tragic Volleyball-related Backstory™, and his inability to understand other people's (and his own) emotions, but kinda stunted bc it's tsukki, ennotana and kurodai are both only mentioned once so if you don't like them don't worry, not very angst heavy because i am bad at angst and these guys are dorks, which also means he's got a better relationship with aki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-11-06 00:02:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11024352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bakagou/pseuds/bakagou
Summary: After years of putting blood, sweat, tears,everythingthey had into their pro-bending careers, the Lion Turtles finally scrape their way to the top and claim the title of League Champions- only to have it swiped away from them by newcomers the Elephant Koi Fish the very next year.But what happens when Tsukishima falls head over heals for their sweet and charming waterbender?(a.k.a. happy birthday to a very dear friend of mine)~~“I think it’s cute.”The words leave Tsukishima’s mouth before he can think them through and the world stops. His heart is beating too fast and all his senses seem to kick into overdrive. He shouldn’t be this panicked but oh God oh God does his body say otherwise.He looks down at Yamaguchi, fearing the worst.Yamaguchi laughs.“Cute? Come on Tsukki, I’m a grown man, cute is the last thing I wanna be called”, he says and smiles up at Tsukishima.And slowly, carefully, subtly, Tsukishima falls in love.





	As the Current Flows

**Author's Note:**

  * For [iampotterlocked242](https://archiveofourown.org/users/iampotterlocked242/gifts).



> This was going to be short and sweet but then it just kept going and now it's over 10k but y'know what it's the least a friend like my bro deserves (Happy Birthday!!!!)

The water is cold, so cold that it’s giving him goosebumps. Tsukishima can still hear the muffled cries of the crowd from above. He stays submerged underwater for a minute, thinking about what just happened. One minute they were way ahead, no chance of their opponents winning unless they got a total knockout, the next he’s being hit straight in the gut by water.

He barely registered falling off the platform and Bokuto screaming his name before plummeting into the water below.

As soon as he resurfaces there’s two more blurs and splashes on either side of him. He hears the commentator scream, “And victory goes to the Elephant Koi Fish taking the title of Championship winners from the Lion Turtles!” as the crowd goes into hysterics.

Tsukishima turns to see Kuroo gasping for air, bedhead matted down and a disgruntled look on his face. On his left, Bokuto is silent, staring down at the water. Tsukishima knows how hard losing is for him, for Kuroo too. He looks up at the crowd, still cheering. He feels something burning at the back of his eyes and a lump forming in his throat. _It should’ve been us,_ he thinks as he blinks back tears.

Losing is hard for Tsukishima too.

* * *

 

Bokuto kicks the wall. Again. He hasn’t spoken since they got out of the water, only the faint grunt or mumble. Kuroo’s quiet too, eyes bloodshot and whenever he does talk it’s more of a croak. There’s nothing to say. They’ve been down this road so many times that Tsukishima thinks that it shouldn’t hurt this much anymore, but it hurts just as much as the first.

Bokuto’s mumbling gets louder as he sits down beside Kuroo. Kuroo leans into him and whispers, “Want to say something? C’mon, what is it?”

Bokuto lets out a heavy sigh, his breath hitching. “I just- I mean, we-”, he chokes out, look down at his feet and rubbing his hand on his thigh.

“Take your time, it’s fine Bo. Start from the top”, Kuroo says.

“...We just got here y’know? It’s like we just- we just worked _so hard_ for the title of Tournament Champions and at last we finally got there, we did it. But now this- this _new_ team, fresh off the street just comes along and… and just _takes_ it all away from us and I’m sick of having to fight for _everything_ and have it taken away as so as I get it with my own two hands. I’m just… _tired_ ”, Bokuto heaves outs, his voice wavering on each word.

Kuroo nods along, rubbing Bokuto’s back to comfort him. Tsukishima looks on, feet frozen to the ground. In a way, he doesn’t feel fully there, like he’s been separated from them by a screen of glass.

And suddenly he can’t deal with this feeling anymore.

“I’m gonna get some air”, Tsukishima says to no one in particular. He can feel Kuroo’s worried gaze piercing into the back of his head but shakes it off, continuing out the door.

Once outside, Tsukishima’s mind goes blank. He doesn’t think, he doesn’t want to. If he starts thinking he’ll think about the Championship and the match and losing and-

It’s too late, Tsukishima’s eyes are already burning again. The walls are pulling him in, the floor swallowing him whole. He’s got to get out of here before he breaks down in the middle of the hall.

He can feel everyone’s eyes on him as he walks down the hallway, head down and shoulders hunched. Tsukishima doesn’t need to look up to know what looks they’re giving him. _Pity_ , it’s sickening.

“Hey isn’t that-”

“Tsukishima? Yeah that’s him, I feel kinda sorry for him. What with losing to the Elephant Kois and-”

Before he can hear anymore, Tsukishima picks up the pace, now striding through the hallways. He’s not too sure where he’s heading. Just outside, somewhere, but these hallways just keep on going on forever and _oh god_ these corridors all look exactly the same. How is he ever going to get out of here if he already feels like he’s walking in circles. It was suffocating, getting more and more bogged down with each step, moving faster and faster until he was just shy of sprinting.

Tsukishima turns and corner, eyes still downcast when he crashes into someone.

He stumbles back a few steps with a subdued kind of panic. Regaining his balance he opens his mouth to apologise but he’s beaten to the punch.

“I- I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there! Oh gosh- this was my fault I’m such a klutz sometimes. Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

Tsukishima looks up and his heart plummets to the pits of his stomach. Standing in front of him is a very worried looking waterbender, one that knocked him straight off the stage and took the champion title.

Yamaguchi Tadashi is staring at him with a look that’s an even mix between fear, anxiety, and worry and if Tsukishima’s being honest the looks of pity he was getting from strangers five minutes ago made him feel less sick. It takes about ten seconds too long before Tsukishima realises he’s supposed to be talking now.

“Oh. Uhm. No- No I’m fine”, he grumbles.

Yamaguchi’s face softens. “Oh thank God! Ah, right, I haven’t introduced myself yet. But then again if you’re _here_ you probably saw me out _there_ but God does that conceited but I didn’t mean it like that I just-” He, stops takes a deep breath and continues, “My name’s Yamaguchi Tadashi, it’s nice to meet you and uh, sorry about almost running you down.”

Despite himself, Tsukishima chuckles. “Tsukishima Kei”, he answers, and then stops dead.

He watches the colour drain from Yamaguchi’s face before looking down at the floor again.

“Well”, he hears Yamaguchi whisper. “And just when I thought we got past the awkward part.”

This time Tsukishima doesn’t chuckle, he full on _snorts._

He covers his mouth in an attempt to muffle it. He glances up and to his surprise, Yamaguchi’s sniggering too. Their eyes meet and Tsukishima ignores how his heart flips in favour of laughing along with Yamaguchi. It was kind of surreal, laughing at a dumb joke with his now biggest rival but _God is he cute._ Tsukishima wants to punch himself in the gut for having that thought.

“Yamaguchi! Where’d you go? Come on we’ve gotta go celebrate!”

Yamaguchi stifles a laugh. “Ah right, Suga and Oikawa are waiting for me. Guess it’s time to go.” A look ghosts over his face and Tsukishima swears up and down that it’s disappointment. Or maybe wishful thinking just got the best of him.

Tsukishima clears his throat. “So I guess I’ll… See you around?”

Yamaguchi’s face lights up. “Yeah! I- I hope so anyway”, he replies. He turns around to leave before looking over his shoulder at Tsukishima one last time.

“It was nice to meet you, Tsukishima Kei”, Yamaguchi says, flashing Tsukishima a smile.

Yamaguchi then turns back around and runs around the corner to his teammates, disappearing from Tsukishima’s sight.

Tsukishima walks in the other direction, returning the same way he came.

Once he gets back, Bokuto’s laughing as loudly as ever, the only evidence of his crying being his bloodshot eyes.

“Oi! Where’d you go? We’ve got next year’s tournament to think about!” Kuroo yells. He already has pages of notes written out and the last thing Tsukishima wants to think about is what ideas the two of them have come up with for a new training regime.

Tsukishima hums in reply, still thinking about Yamaguchi and his laugh and his smile.

Kuroo shrugs and says “Okay! So I was thinking if we do some more endurance training for next season then-”

Tsukishima sighs, his mind still on Yamaguchi. He was so lively and bright, as bright as the sun.

_He was cute_ , Tsukishima thinks, and this time he wants to punch himself in the gut a little less.

* * *

 

“Hey Kei I need you to do me a huge favour.”

Tsukishima glances up at his brother and grunts.

“Okay so, I promised Akaizawa I'd cover for one of his workers for a delivery at the Black Orchid but today is actually me and Saoko’s first anniversary soo I was wondering- considering you don't seem to have anything planned for today- would you maybe-”

“No.”

“Come on! It's just helping unload deliveries for a few hours!”

Tsukishima stays silent for a moment, as if he was actually considering it.  

“No.” He turns back to his book, effectively ending the conversation. He hears Akiteru sigh and pad off in the direction of the kitchen.

Two minutes later, he hears Akiteru sigh again, this time louder and prolonged.

“I guess that's that. Saoko will be so disappointed that I have to work tonight, what with it being our _one year anniversary_ and all. But no, I promised to help out a friend so I have to be there, not like there's anyone _stronger_ or _diligenter_ than me who could fill in for me in my hour of need!” Akiteru laments, sighing at the end for effect.

“Diligenter isn't a word, Aki”, Tsukishima calls outs, refusing to pay any attention to the rest of his brother’s speech.

“I mean”, Akiteru continues as he wanders back into the living room. “It's not like I've ever done anything _worthy_ of deserving help when I'm in a pinch. Not like I've gone _above and beyond_ to take care of someone and support them and give them the means to achieve their dreams- oh no!” He bends down to a where Tsukishima is sitting on the couch, over its back, and looks Tsukishima dead in the eyes.

“Of _course_ not”, he whispers, nose touching Tsukishima’s.

There's a beat of silence as they stare at each other in a stalemate, both willing the other to give in. 

“When do I have to show up?” Tsukishima grumbles.

“Four on the dot. You'll be done by eight the latest and get a decent amount from it.” Akiteru grins and goes into hug Tsukishima.

Tsukishima swerves but in the process falls off the couch. Akiteru chuckles.

“Wow Kei, with moves like that it's no wonder guys are all over you.” Akiteru smiles, a silent thank you, before running into the bathroom, picking up a bag of hair products on the way.

Tsukishima scowls and gets ready to leave.

Republic city is cramped and noisy and messy and smells like pollution and grease. Anywhere where the average person can afford to live has a layer of dirt and grime covering it. People fought over the tiniest things and complained about everything and Tsukishima loved all of it. No one payed attention to him besides the odd child staring up at him in awe of his height. Everyone else was too busy either their own lives to care.

But of course they were a few who took pleasure in making his life difficult.

Akaizawa was an old friend of Akiteru’s, an old upperclassman. They still hang out nowadays, even if it's harder to find time.

But right now, he was yelling at Tsukishima for being two minutes late.

“Didn't your brother tell ya to be on time? We’ve got a lotta work to do”, Akaizawa says while he places box after box in Tsukishima’s arms.

“I almost got ran over by some idiot on a motorcycle. Caused a whole backlog of traffic and I had to stand around while everyone screamed at each other”, Tsukishima replies.

Akaizawa laughs and shakes his head. “So how'd you get away?”

“Wasn't that hard. One of the drivers punched the motorcyclist and I took that as my cue to leave before things got out of hand. You know how it is when stuff like that happens.”

“That's where you left? If it was me I would've stuck around, see what happened next.”

Tsukishima gave him a look as if to say, _you chewed me out for being two minutes late but wouldn't mind if I had stuck around and watched a fight for who knows how long?_

Before he could actually say anything, Akaizawa was sending him in to put the boxes in storage and had already begun talking with someone who looked to be the owner.

Tsukishima continues working, silently unloading boxes of supplies and leaving them in storage. It’s boring manual labour but Tsukishima takes solace in counting down the clock until it’s all over and he can go home.

As he walks into the storage room for what he hopes is the last time, he realises Akaizawa game him too many boxes this time around. He can barely see over them and it’s getting hard to balance them all. One wrong step and they could all come crashing down.

Which is almost exactly what happens when he trips over his own foot.

He regains his balance immediately but not before the boxes begin to topple. But just as they’re about to crash to the ground, a pair of hands reach out to grab them, leaving Tsukishima with a single solitary box. He looks up at the worker who helped him.

“You okay there buddy?”

Tsukishima nods in reply and adds a muttered “thanks” at the end.

“Oh actually could you do me a favour? Considering we’re just done restocking I’ve got to take inventory but that box”, she taps the last remaining box in Tsukishima hand and smiles, “that box goes straight out to the front. Do you mind just unpacking it for me? Please?” she asked flashing a smile.

Tsukishima nodded and moved out to the front. He opened to box and started unpacking the tea bags inside.

“Well well well, what do we have here?”

Tsukishima freezes.

“Can it be? The famous Tsukishima Kei of the Lion Turtles?”

Tsukishima tenses up.

Tanaka and Noya lean over the counter, smiling from ear to ear.

“Ah but Noya, what would someone as famous as Tsukishima be working in a small tea shop? Shouldn’t he be training for the next season?” Tanaka exclaims.

“One more word and I gag you with these tea bags”, Tsukishima growled. “Anyway why’re you here?”

“We’re on a mission!” Noya exclaims. Tanaka nods along, slinging his arm around Noya.

Tsukishima raises an eyebrow in response.

“Bokuto was looking for you, said he and Kuroo have your training all figured out already. Wants you at training at nine sharp tomorrow morning”, Tanaka says as his smile twists into a smirk. “From what I heard it sound really fun. Seems you'll be doubling your training from last year.”

Tsukishima scowls. He opens his mouth to answer, quip at the ready when he spots soft brown hair passing by on the street outside.

His brain goes into overdrive and suddenly he’s running outside yelling at Tanaka and Noya to apologise to Akaizawa for him.

Tsukishima spots him in the middle of the thick crowd. He doesn't understand why he's going to such great lengths himself, but something in him wants to see that smile more than anything.

He thinks about calling out but decides against it, too desperate and clingy even with how he's acting right now. Instead he pushes through the crowd, trying to catch up to Yamaguchi. He elbows everyone who's even remotely in his way clearing his path to Yamaguchi. It's a great strategy, until it backfires and he's elbowed back so hard that he just avoids falling straight into a food cart.

Tsukishima doesn't panic, just sighs. He looks up at the crowd and Yamaguchi’s nowhere in sight. Blood rushes to his cheeks just thinking about what he just did.

_God,_ he thinks. _How desperate and impulsive can you be?_

He should probably go back, apologise to Akaizawa, take his money, and go home. He should forget this whole thing ever happened, he's got to focus of training now that-

“I'll just take a black coffee please.” Tsukishima’s head snaps up to see Yamaguchi standing right beside him. Yamaguchi’s eyes widen slightly when he sees Tsukishima and smiles.

“Tsukishima! How are you?” he asks.

Tsukishima’s just noticing the freckles that run across his cheeks and nose. Just like everything about Yamaguchi, they're cute.

“I’m- I- I’m good. You?” Tsukishima stutters as he tries to compose himself.

Yamaguchi let's out a soft laugh. “I'm doing great, completely lost at the moment but other than that, great”, he replies.

Tsukishima raises an eyebrow. “Lost?”

“Oh well I’m still pretty new to the city and living alone has made it kinda harder to adjust and get around. Oikawa and Suga always chew me out for being late, it was only two weeks ago when I finally got to practice without getting lost”, he sighs and looks at Tsukishima sheepishly.

“Oh I uh, totally understand. The city's pretty big, must take a while for someone to become accustomed to it. I mean, wouldn't know because I've lived hear all my life but I mean- just, no judgement here?” He can feel the blush coming back to his cheeks but to his relief, Yamaguchi just laughs.

Tsukishima clears his throat. “So where’re you heading anyway?”

“I’m supposed to be going to the library, but I have no clue where I am right now so as you can see it's going great.”

Tsukishima notices the messenger bag filled with books slung around Yamaguchi’s shoulder.

“Well we’re actually not that far. If you like it can show you the way”, Tsukishima offers and immediately his brain is protesting against it.

Yamaguchi smiles. “Tsukishima! You're my saviour! I thought I'd just end up wandering the streets forever”, he exclaims.

“Couldn't you just… ask someone for directions.”

Yamaguchi pays for his coffee. “God you're funny Tsukishima. Let's go?”

Tsukishima leads the way, listening to Yamaguchi chatter away. He learns a lot about Yamaguchi in the twenty minutes it takes them to get to the library. He learns that Yamaguchi’s from a small village in water tribe territory, he's an only child, he's scared of most people, and he's a giant bending nerd.

“I mean sure, after the Platypus Bears fall from grace they became one of the most infamous teams in history but all they wanted to do was expand the reach of pro-bending by campaigning for the use of steam to be permitted which not only confuses your opponents but also lets you get a good hit at them too and yeah they didn’t exactly go about in the best way, what with them almost killing their opponents but I think that they're just not given the credit they deserve for trying to break convention and takes risks within the sport which I think is _completely_ unfair!” Yamaguchi acclaims, brandishing his empty coffee cup.

Tsukishima nods along and comes to a halt.

“And we're here”, he announces. This time though, he swears Yamaguchi looks disappointed.

“Thanks for your help and uhm”, Yamaguchi looks down at his feet. “I'm doing some research to improve my bending and I was wondering if you wanted to come along tomorrow? Considering you're a waterbender too and all.”

Tsukishima’s heart jumped up to his throat so instead of saying yes he nods. A lot.

Yamaguchi looks surprised. “Great! So uh, this time tomorrow maybe?”

Tsukishima nods again scared if he talks he'll ruin it.

Yamaguchi grins. “See ya tomorrow then”, and with that he walks up the steps and into the building, leaving Tsukishima on the street staring up after him.

Once he gets home, Tsukishima lies down on his bed and stares at the ceiling.

“That happened”, he says, disbelief dripping from his voice. “That actually happened.”

He turns onto his back and smushes his face into pillow. Yamaguchi’s smile comes into his mind, freckles in along his cheeks and a small bit of blush.

_Cute,_ Tsukishima thinks and this time it's all he wants to think.

* * *

 

Tsukishima can at least admit it when he has a crush on someone. It’s no big deal, having a crush on Yamaguchi. Sure, he may be part of a rival team but he’s also sweet and cute and funny so Tsukishima really doesn’t see what the problem is.

So then why does he immediately feel guilt building up in the pits of his stomach when he walks into training.

Bokuto’s mad grin is putting Tsukishima on edge, making him unsure of what to expect.

Bokuto clears his throat.

“Allllright guys! This is the year! We’re gonna train non-stop, pummel each and every team we fight into the ground and take back the title of Champions! Ha! Those newbies thinking they can just waltz in and win without a fight, well we’ll show them just how strong we can be!”

Kuroo smirks and adds, “Yeah, we’ll knock them down a peg or two, ‘specially that firebender.”

“Tetsu, you’re just annoyed ‘cause his hair looks better than yours.”

“Who in the name of all things that are good and sacred has time to style their hair that much before the final of the pro-bending tournament? And how does it stay so perfect during the whole thing?”

“So the new training, Kuroo?” Tsukishima interjects, getting the meeting back on track.

“Ah, right”, Kuroo mutters and he fishes for something in his bag. He pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to Tsukishima.

“This is just an overview of what we’ll be doing, we gotta work hard if we want to win this year.”

Tsukishima looks down at the paper and starts to wonder if Kuroo realised that the human body requires things like food and sleep to function.

“And the best thing to do is to start right now!” Bokuto exclaims.

Tsukishima rolls his eyes. “As long as we’re done by four.”

At this, Kuroo raises and eyebrow and grins.

“Oh? Got somewhere to be Tsukishima?” he asks leaning on Tsukishima’s shoulder.

“Like a date?” Bokuto adds, leaning on Tsukishima’s other shoulder.

“Come on tell us. Who’s the lucky guy?” Bokuto continues, matching Kuroo’s grin.

“You mean the dude who someone got Tsukishima to talk to him? God I wanna meet this guy, if he’s able to do something like that he must have some kind of crazy powers”,  Kuroo persists, cheshire cat grin plastered across his face.

Tsukishima groans. “You do realise you’re wasting valuable time which we could be using to actually train, right?”

“Oh but annoying you is _so_ much more fun”, Kuroo chides.

“No no Kuroo! We gotta make sure Tsukishima gets to his date on time! Otherwise he’ll be waiting for Tsukishima for ages! That poor… what did you say his name was, Tsukishima?” Bokuto asks, feigning innocence.

Tsukishima glowers.

“I didn’t. And I’m not going to”, he growls, jerking away to leave his two teammates stumbling for balance.

“Whatever we’ll just ask Akiteru!” Kuroo calls out.

“Do you honestly think I told Aki”, Tsukishima replies. He opens his mouth to continue but pauses to go back over the conversation in his head, feeling as though he missed something.

“And it’s not a date Kuroo!” he yells. Despite himself he could feel his cheeks flushing and turns away.

With Kuroo and Bokuto’s sniggering behind him, Tsukishima wonders if Bokuto hits him in the head hard enough, he could forget this whole conversation ever happened.

* * *

 

“Sorry I’m late”, Tsukishima puffs out, catching his breath.

“Oh don’t worry about it! You’re fine it’s only been two minutes anyway”, Yamaguchi says as he turns to walk inside.

“So what kept you anyway?”

“According to Bokuto, being able to bend and attack with the tiniest amount of water available to me will definitely help us win this year”, Tsukishima grunted.

Yamaguchi snorts. “Thank God, I thought Oikawa was the only deranged one.”

Tsukishima raises an eyebrow as he holds the door open for Yamaguchi.

“Lets just say that mounting climbing in the middle of winter is a _bad_ idea”, Yamaguchi answers.

Tsukishima winces at the thought and follows Yamaguchi.

Memorial library has more books than Republic City has buildings. Tsukishima’s certain that there were some scrolls from Avatar Kyoshi’s time. The place is a goldmine of information, with books wedged into every corner and free space. Only problem was that it was hard to find anything with that amount of books.

“So what’re looking for, specifically?”

“Well”, Yamaguchi begins, climbing up one of the many ladders scattered around the library. “Apparently Avatar Kuruk had some kind of advanced waterbending so I wanna see if I could use something like that in this year’s tournament. Not that I think I’m anywhere _near_ as good as Avatar Kuruk was! I mean he was the _Avatar_ and all but I think some of his simpler techniques could come in handy as long as I can make sure they don’t break any rules.”

He glances down at Tsukishima, who’s gaping up at him with a blank expression.

“What? Is it a bit odd? I know it’s kinda stupid but I think I could-”, Yamaguchi starts before Tsukishima interrupts him.

“Huh? Wait no sorry I think it’s actually a really good idea, I was just shocked I guess? Not that I didn’t think you were smart but like, now I know you’re _really_ smart and uhm, yeah. ‘S smart.” Tsukishima coughs and covers his mouth in an attempt to hide his blush.

This time it’s Yamaguchi’s turn to gape, but Yamaguchi’s face is bright red and there’s a light in his eyes that draws Tsukishima in and make his heart jump up to his throat. Yamaguchi blinks and laughs, the same laugh from when they first met.

“Damn charmer. I’m about to toss down some books so get ready to catch them for me”, Yamaguchi says, a smile spreading across his face.

Tsukishima nods.

Later with a pile of books on either side of them Tsukishima thinks about how the light is catching Yamaguchi at just the right angle, giving him a warm glow in the evening light. Yamaguchi bites down on his bottom lip and flips through page after page, book after book and the whole ordeal is making it impossible for Tsukishima to concentrate. In his mind, he draws out constellations in Yamaguchi’s freckles and wonders if his face is the only place Yamaguchi has freckles. He quickly dismisses the thought, hoping that Yamaguchi doesn’t look up to see him blushing.

Tsukishima also realises how well defined Yamaguchi’s muscles are. He’s slender but Tsukishima can still see his muscles move through his shirt, with a subtlety that made Tsukishima want to see every small dip and contour of Yamaguchi’s body.

Tsukishima hates having a crush that’s this invasive.

When he arrives home it’s dark out. There’s no lights on inside and Tsukishima lets out a sigh of relief. As much as he loves his brother he doesn’t need to be interrogated about where he was. All he needs right now is something to eat.

He walks through their tiny sitting room, not bothering to turn on the lights and turns to go into the kitchen.

“So how was your date?”

Tsukishima yelps, jumping back and banging his head against the doorframe. Hot pain sears through his head and he goes to rub it.

Akiteru sniggers from his place on the couch, an arm wrapped around Saoko’s shoulder.

Tsukishima glares at them, the lamp beside them illuminating their smiles. Tsukishima’s surprised he didn’t notice it before.

“Why are just laying in wait in the _dark_?” Tsukishima asks.

“Well for your information, we were asleep and if you didn’t stomp you damn feet the whole time we wouldn’t have woken up and you could’ve avoided the whole thing”, Saoko replies as she leans into Akiteru.

“So anyway”, she continues, her smile reminding Tsukishima of Tanaka, which is never a good thing in Tsukishima’s case. “How was your date?”

Tsukishima frowns. “Wasn’t a date”, he grumbles, turning away from them. “Just a friend.”

Akiteru raises an eyebrow at this. “Kei, you have like four friends, none of which you’d willingly stay with for the whole day.”

Tsukishima shrugs. “I guess he’s uhm.. A new friend.” Tsukishima looks up again and his embarrassment grows the longer he stares at Saoko and Akiteru’s surprised faces.

“Oh my God”, Akiteru whispers. “Oh my God, my brother actually made a friend on his own.” Tsukishima can almost hear the disbelief dripping from his voice.

“So who is he? What’s he like? How’d you become friends with him? When can I meet him?” Akiteru exclaims, leaning over the couch’s back to bring himself closer to Tsukishima.

The latter squirms, looking down at the floor. “Promise you won’t tell anyone? _Both_ of you?”

Saoko, who had been watching them in amusement, smiles and makes a cross over her heart.

Akiteru on the other hand is apprehensive.

“Okay… I don’t really understand why- but if that’s what it takes then fine I promise I won’t tell a soul.”

Tsukishima takes a deep breath. “It’s Yamaguchi Tadashi.”

“Oh”, Akiteru replies nodding slowly. After a moment he stops nodding and freezes. His eyes widen as he stares at Tsukishima.

“ _Oh._ ”

Tsukishima can’t hold his gaze for this long and looks down at the ground again. He can hear Saoko laughing as it dawns on Akiteru.

For the third time in the span of two minutes, Akiteru replies with “Oh.”

Saoko grins at Tsukishima and says, “C’mon Kei, it’s not so bad. I bet Bokuto and Kuroo wouldn’t care.”

“Saoko, Bokuto didn’t talk to you or Tanaka for weeks after you beat him and Kuroo in a drinking contest. How do you think think he’d feel if I was friends with the waterbender who took the title of Professional Bending Tournament Champions away from him? He’d freak.”

Akiteru rolled his eyes. “Kei, be realistic here. Sure it’d sting for a bit, but he’d get over it, being friends with Yamaguchi isn’t a big deal.”

Tsukishima shakes his head and sighs.

“Look I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal to the two of you but to Bokuto-”, Tsukishima pauses, takes a deep breath, and looks up at them again.

“For Bokuto losing to them- it _crushed_ him. He was shattered when he came in from the arena. And I know that after a few minutes he seemed fine again but I-I’m not stupid, and neither is Kuroo. Bokuto was muted almost, fizzed out in a way for a good week before he actually started to get back to training again. And Kuroo was no better, the only thing he was better at was hiding his tears. And it’s not like I could just walk on up to then and say ‘Hey so I’ve got a crush on the waterbender of the Elephant Kois, y’know the team that we lost to in the finals? I’m sure you don’t remember anyway it wasn’t that important’ like I know I’m not the most _considerate_ person around but I’m not that malicious either!”

The room is silent for a minute, everyone staring at each other and unsure of what comes next.

“So, you have a crush on him too”, Akiteru says eventually.

Tsukishima turns away and nods. “Didn’t mean to blurt it out like that but, yeah I guess”, he mumbles.

Akiteru opens his mouth to reply which prompts Tsukishima to add “But it’s not like I actually want to date him or anything. ‘S just a crush, it’ll go away soon enough.”

Akiteru gives him a sympathetic smile.

“So what’re you gonna do about it?” Saoko asks.

“I have no idea, I’ll sleep on it. Probably just continue this way and hope that I can keep it under wraps until we beat them next year, by then Bokuto won’t care. I hope”, Tsukishima answers.

“Well hey whatever you decide to do just know that we’re backing you up”, Akiteru pipes up.

“Thanks Aki. Night”, Tsukishima says as he turns to go to bed. By now all he wants to do is sleep and hope it all makes a bit more sense in the morning.

“Oh and Kei”, Akiteru calls out to him as he walks down to his room.

Tsukishima turns his head to look at his brother.

“It’s okay to see where this crush goes, okay?”

* * *

 

“Hey so there’s this new movie on in twenty minutes about Avatar Korra’s pro-bending career, you wanna go see it?”

Tsukishima looks up at Yamaguchi in surprise. “Uh sure, I mean, we haven’t done anything besides-”

“This? Yeah but no one else will go with me so please?” Yamaguchi says and flashes a smile.

Tsukishima lets out a small laugh and nods.

“Great. Food after? Cause I’m practically starved and could really go for some sea food.”

* * *

 

Weeks pass and Tsukishima’s surprised that he hasn’t found a way to mess everything up yet.

Training sessions seem to blur together, each one more gruelling than the last. He’s starting to think that Bokuto already knows about Yamaguchi and that he’s a decided that a slow, painful death is a fitting punishment.

But there is a bright side to it all, and that bright side comes in the form of a bumbling boy with soft brown eyes and a laugh sweeter than any song. It was almost blissful.

Then two idiots came along and ruined it.

Yamaguchi snorts into his coffee as he tries to stop laughing.

“Wait so- so you actually thought that you could hatch an egg if you sat on it for long enough?” he sputters, laughing so hard he doubles over.

“Look”, Tsukishima starts as he tries to keep his voice level. “I was _six_ Yamaguchi, my brother literally just told that it was basically a dead chick and I felt bad so my first instinct was to like, bring it back to like okay so it makes sense to some degree.”

Yamaguchi smiles and looks up at Tsukishima. He’s tall but there’s still a considerable height difference between them, the kind of Tsukishima wouldn’t really notice until he imagined what it would like the kiss Yamaguchi or in times like this, where he’s looking up at Tsukishima with a smile that could pierce right through his heart.

“Tsukishima, just admit that is was a dumb idea, like others I'm sure you've had. Oh and tell me about them so I can laugh at them”, Yamaguchi replies with an odd mix of sincerity and joking.

“Oh shut up Yamaguchi”, Tsukishima mutters, looking away to hide his embarrassment.

“Sorry Tsukishima”, Yamaguchi chuckles. “But it’s not like you’re the only one who’s had dumb ideas.”

Tsukishima looks at Yamaguchi and raises an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“I uhm- made the _horrible_ mistake of mentioning you around… _certain_ people and I really regret it now”, Yamaguchi answers, talking into his now empty coffee cup.

“Okay well who are these ‘certain people’”, Tsukishima asks as they arrive at the front steps of the library.

“Aha! Caught you in the act!”

Tsukishima looks over at Yamaguchi at just the right moment to see the colour drain from his face as he whispers an almost inaudible “Oh no.”

“Fraternising with the enemy, how could you Yamaguchi?”

Tsukishima turns his attention to where the voices are coming from and sees two men about their age striding towards them.

“So this is the famous Tsukishima Kei huh? I mean he’s cuter than I expected without the helmet but I think you could do better Yams”, one of the men say, leaning on Yamaguchi. When Tsukishima’s brain makes the connection that this is Oikawa Tooru, his gut twists.

“Oh my God Oikawa, please stop. Why are you two here?”

“To suss out the competition of course, you can never start prepping for the season too early”, the other man says smiling at them with a touch of malice. Tsukishima recognises him as Sugawara Koushi.

“Oikawa, Suga, please leave”, Yamaguchi says, a deadpan expression on his face.

“Oh Yamaguchi, could it be that you you don’t _want_ us here?” Sugawara asks, cocking his head to the side.

“Because y’know, _we_ really want _you_ at training but unfortunately that doesn’t seem like it’s gonna happen considering you keep _blowing us off to hang out with your new boyfriend_ ”, Oikawa snaps gesturing wildly at Tsukishima.  

Tsukishima’s eyes widen in surprise and stares at Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi’s face is bright red and a mix between shock and indignation.

“Okay first of all, Tsukishima is not my boyfriend, he’s just a friend I enjoy spending time with-” Tsukishima’s heart twists at this, confirming what he already knew. “And second, I was five minutes late to one training session, and I just _happen_ to be running late to this one!”

“Yeah sure Yamaguchi, because _forty-five minutes_ is considered ‘running late’!” Oikawa retorts.

“Uhm if I could say something?”

All three of them turn their gazes to Tsukishima, who at this very moment wants nothing more than to to sink into the ground and pretend that he wasn’t a part of this. But despite every cell in his body screaming at him to leave, he looks at Yamaguchi dead in the eye and asks, “Why?”

Oikawa and Sugawara look back at Yamaguchi, who’s now looking down at the ground with a sense of shame around him.

“Okay so uhm, I did _know_ that our training was moved for today, a-and trust me I didn’t want to ditch it, you guys know I wouldn’t do that. But Tsukishima, when you walked home with me last time, I just blurted out if we were still okay for today and I guess I was really tired and out of it or something because of course I didn’t think about what I actually said until two days later and I wasn’t just going to leave you by yourself. So then I was like ‘Okay no big deal Tadashi, just leave a bit early and you’ll be fine’ but I didn’t leave early and now they’re here to hunt me down.”

Sugawara sighs and shakes his head but there’s a small smile creeping onto his face. Oikawa puts his head in his hands and groans.

“Yamaguchi, that sounds like the kind of stuff Tobio or Shrimpy would pull, you’re too smart for this”, Oikawa says.

Yamaguchi smiles sheepishly and looks to Tsukishima for support.

“I guess we all make mistakes?” Tsukishima blurts out and immediately regrets it.

Sugawara smirks. “You know actually I think you two are perfect for each other.”

Tsukishima grunts in reply and Yamaguchi frowns. _God even his pout is cute_ , Tsukishima thinks, taking note of his dimples the little crease between his eyebrows.

“So are you two done? Because I promise I won’t be this stupid again so if you could just, move along now and stop embarrassing me it’d be great”, Yamaguchi says as he moves towards Tsukishima.

“Yamaguchi please, we haven’t embarrassed you at all. Now, embarrassing you would be telling Tsukishima here about the time you almost fell of a boat because you-”

“ _Okay_ let’s save that for another time come one Tsukishima let’s get going, bye guys”, Yamaguchi says. He grabs Tsukishima’s arm and drags him away letting the busy and bustling crowds swallow them whole.

Yamaguchi lets out a sigh of relief and looks up at Tsukishima again.

“I, uhm, sorry- about all of that.”

“Ah it’s fine. My teammates love to embarrass me all the time too”, Tsukishima replies.

Yamaguchi smiles, small and soft, and continues walking through the crowd.

“So where should we go. I’m in the mood for coffee sound good to you?” Yamaguchi asks, looking for some semblance of a tea shop.

“Didn’t you just finish one?” Tsukishima asks in response, voice tinted with concern.

“Okay but. That’s, different I mean that was to go while walking around what I want now is a coffee in some tea shop that actually sells coffee. And so what if I like coffee? It’s good it keeps me awake”, Yamaguchi replies, pulling out all his defenses.

Tsukishima raises an eyebrow but smiles. “You know coffee can cause anxiety, right?”

Yamaguchi stays silent for a moment. “Huh”, he says finally. “That explains a lot.”

Tsukishima sniggers as he lets Yamaguchi pull him through the crowd. If Yamaguchi’s also realised that he’s still holding onto Tsukishima’s arm, he doesn’t say anything.

* * *

 

“So is you walking me home just going to be a regular thing from now on?” Yamaguchi asks. He’s walking up the steps of his apartment which makes him taller than Tsukishima for once.

Tsukishima stares blankly at him for a minute before replying, “It isn’t already? I mean, I _have_ walked you home every night this past week so I just assumed-”

Yamaguchi breaks in with a laugh and leans against the railing. “Any reason why?” he asks, voice and eyes both soft.

“Well”, Tsukishima starts as he takes a step forward, bringing himself closer to Yamaguchi. “You seemed pretty worn out this week, didn’t exactly want anything to happen to you one your way home.”

Yamaguchi smirks, now leaning over the railing so his face is barely centimetres away from Tsukishima’s.

“Well, aren’t you the best friend a guy could ask for, so concerned for my well being that you’d go halfway across the city just to make sure I got home safely”, Yamaguchi whispers. His eyes are on the ground before meeting Tsukishima’s.

At this moment, Tsukishima thinks back to when they first met, crashing into each other in a state of panic. He had compared Yamaguchi to the sun, shining brightly and brilliantly.

Oh how wrong he was.

Tsukishima now realises, under the night sky and surrounded by the crisp air that no, Yamaguchi shone brighter than the sun. Yamaguchi was every star in the universe, with a brilliance that couldn’t be matched by thousands if not millions of stars, let alone one. He glowed under the sky, eyes filled with something Tsukishima couldn’t quite place but it took his breath away nonetheless. Tsukishima’s heart jumped up to his throat and his body was fighting against his brain, with the need to kiss him, just once, bubbling up inside him but the thoughts of Yamaguchi’s reaction stopped him.

“Yeah, best friend”, he croaked out. Breathing the same air as Yamaguchi was doing something to his head, making him feel lightheaded but in a way that wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

Yamaguchi hummed in reply, staring into Tsukishima’s eyes. The latter doesn’t exactly know what else to do.

So they stand there in the night, streetlights giving off a soft glow and lighting up Yamaguchi’s features.

Yamaguchi leans in just as the door swings open.

They both yelp, jumping away from each other and staring at the door.

“Oh, Yamaguchi you’re back. I was worried for a while, it’s pretty late now and you’re never home this late.”

“O-oh Iwaizumi! Uhm no I was just across town so it took a while to get back, You heading out?” Yamaguchi splutters.

“Nah just taking out the trash”, Iwaizumi answers, shaking the bag of trash by his side. “Oh hey Tsukishima, didn’t see you there.”

Tsukishima nods at him, too panicked to do anything else.

“Ah well I should head to bed! Early practice tomorrow and all. Night guys!” Yamaguchi exclaims, running into the building and out of sight.

Iwaizumi shrugs and walks in the opposite direction towards the trash cans.

Tsukishima spins around on his heels and begins walking home as he tries to get his heart to stop beating so fast and convince himself that Yamaguchi didn’t lean in for a kiss.

* * *

 

Tsukishima walks in the door humming with a smile on his face as evening light spills in from behind him.

“See you tomorrow night babe!” he hears Saoko call out as she walks towards the hall. Her eyes widen when she sees Tsukishima.

“Aki I think there’s something wrong with your brother! He’s smiling but no one’s in pain or making a fool of themselves”, she calls out again.

Tsukishima’s smile is replaced with a scowl and Saoko winks at him as she walks out the door.

“What’s got you in such a good mood? Your ‘just a crush’ on Yamaguchi?” Akiteru says when Tsukishima enters the kitchen

Tsukishima rolls his eyes and grunts in Akiteru’s general direction.

Akiteru chuckles, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“And it is just a crush”, Tsukishima says as he roots through cupboards to find something to eat.

“Kei, not to tell you what you’re feeling but considering you don’t even realise what you’re feeling I’m gonna enlighten you”, Akiteru says and takes a sip of his tea as he waits for Tsukishima’s groan to die down before starting again.

“I don’t think this has _ever_ been just a crush Kei. Even when you do have the occasional crush on someone, you’re never this quick to trust them. You always responded to them with the same amount of snide remarks and grunts as anyone else, and when you did begin to open up to them, you got over your crush on them and never bother getting any closer to them.”

Tsukishima wants to be anywhere but here having this conversation.

He shifts in place and looks over his shoulder. Akiteru’s giving him that sympathetic smile. Tsukishima frowns and looks away again but his eyes don’t focus on what’s before him.

He can hear Akiteru put his mug down and walk over to him.

“Kei, you know I love you right? I just want you to be happy and Yamaguchi seems to make you happier than I’ve ever seen you. You could stand to look at what you’re feeling a bit more”, Akiteru says and comes up beside Tsukishima.

Tsukishima looks at him again. “I’m just scared of… of ruining it y’know? Like I want to be there for him more, he’s been really tired lately and I want to see more of him and I actually _want_ to help him but- I’m _terrified_ that if I get too close I-I’ll do something stupid and he won’t want anything to do with me anymore”, he mumbles.

“Oh Kei”, Akiteru sighs. “You really are lovestruck aren’t you?”

Before he can reply Akiteru’s pushing some chocolate into his hands.

“Eat. You’ll feel better once you get some sugar into your blood. And hey, who knows what Yamaguchi’s thinking, right?”

Tsukishima’s mind immediately flits back to that night, where Yamaguchi leaned in and a glimmer of hope appeared in Tsukishima’s heart.

Tsukishima shrugs and mutters a thanks before retreating into his room.

He lies on his bed, chocolate discarded by his desk. Yamaguchi hadn’t tried anything like that since, so maybe he imagined it. He was pretty light headed that night so maybe he misinterpreted it. There’s something squeezing at his heart at that thought. Tsukishima doesn’t believe it for one minute.

He gets up from his bed, grabs the chocolate from his desk, and takes a bite.

* * *

 

“Can I give you a nickname?”

Tsukishima looks down at Yamaguchi and smiles. “Why do you want to?”

Yamaguchi shrugs. “Tsukishima’s too formal for me. How about... Tsukki?”

Tsukishima smirks. “Alright but you have to do something about those bags under your eyes. Seriously have you slept at all this week?” he replies.

“I have I have! Stop acting like my grandpa Tsukki”, Yamaguchi says.

Tsukishima laughs.

* * *

 

“Alright, let’s call it a day before Bo passes out from exhaustion”, Kuroo says as he gestures to Bokuto, lying face down on the ground. The latter grumbles something in reply.

“Awh come on Bo, if you stay down there you won’t get to help me torment Tsukishima”, Kuroo calls out, running after Tsukishima as he makes a beeline for the exit.

“So Tsukishima, where you running off too?” Kuroo asks, slamming into the wall and trying to act as though it doesn’t hurt.

“Someplace”, Tsukishima replies as he reaches for the door handle again.

Bokuto crashes into the wall at the other side of the door, banging his head in the process. “With who?” he asks.

“Someone”, Tsukishima answers.

“This someone… are they by any chance your-”

“No Kuroo they are not my boyfriend and no Bokuto I am not going on a date”, Tsukishima answers.

“Do we really need to have this conversation every time?” he adds.

“Okay okay but, just know that you can tell us anything Tsukishima, you don’t have to hide things from us”, Kuroo says.

Tsukishima nods and with a pat on the back from Bokuto, leaves with a lead heart.

* * *

 

“-And that’s why I think Avatar Korra would’ve totally been able to kick Avatar Roku’s butt. Although they were technically the same person, but still I think you get my point and hey what’s that look for?”

“Nothing it’s just… you’ve really thought about this haven’t you?” Tsukishima says.

They’re walking through one of the many market places around Yamaguchi’s place, strolling along as the world passes by them.

Yamaguchi’s cheek flush and he looks away. “Uhm, yeah it-it’s something I used to do to pass the time, I know it’s a little weird but-”

“I think it’s cute.”

The words leave Tsukishima’s mouth before he can think them through and the world stops. His heart is beating too fast and all his senses seem to kick into overdrive. He shouldn’t be this panicked but oh God oh God does his body say otherwise.

He looks down at Yamaguchi, fearing the worst.

Yamaguchi laughs.

“Cute? Come on Tsukki, I’m a grown man, cute is the last thing I wanna be called”, he says and smiles up at Tsukishima.

And slowly, carefully, subtly, Tsukishima falls in love.

* * *

 

Tsukishima always hated be caught out in the rain, but this time was an exception.

He’s running through the almost empty street with Yamaguchi by his side as the rain pours down on them. He’s soaked through to his shirt and all he wants to do is get out of this rain and lie down.

“Come on, I don’t want you getting a cold from walking home in the rain”, Yamaguchi says when they reach his apartment building. Tsukishima doesn’t think about it, just nods.

Yamaguchi’s apartment is just as small and cramped as he expected but it’s still clean and has a certain homey feel to it.

Yamaguchi throws Tsukishima a towel before drying his own hair.

“I think I have some clothes that might fit you, they’re actually Oikawa’s but what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him”, Yamaguchi calls out as he goes into his bedroom.

When he comes back he throws a sweater and pants at Tsukishima and points him towards the bathroom.

Once in the bathroom, Tsukishima takes a deep breath. His heart is beating fast, too fast for comfort and he can feel the sweat on his hands. As he gets changed he tries to stuff the panicked feeling into the bottom of his stomach where it belongs.

When he walks back into the main room Yamaguchi’s attempting to make tea and dry his hair at the same time, towel slipping off his head every few seconds.

Tsukishima smirks and walks up behind him and grabs hold of the towel before it hits the floor.

“Ah thanks!” Yamaguchi says and looks down at Tsukishima’s torso.

“Mhm, those clothes are a little small. Sorry I don’t have anything bigger”, he says and quickly looks back up at Tsukishima’s face.

“It’s fine don’t worry about it, and dry your hair properly and let me take care of the tea”, Tsukishima chastes, putting the towel on top of Yamaguchi’s head and pushing him away.

“Alright _dad_ ”, Yamaguchi says and sticks his tongue out.

Tsukishima chuckles and turns back to the tea. He plonks it down on the coffee table and falls back onto the couch beside Yamaguchi.

Yamaguchi takes a mug and stops suddenly. “This is your first time here isn’t it”, he says slowly.

Tsukishima nods, interested in where this is going.

“Ah”, Yamaguchi says and takes a sip of tea. “As you can see I’m not the greatest host.” He snorts into his tea and looks at Tsukishima for confirmation.

Tsukishima shrugs. “You’re better than me, I just hide in my room and let Aki deal with guest.”

“Sounds like you anyway”, Yamaguchi says and Tsukishima pushes him as gently as he can in response.

“So tell me more about your brother anyway”, Yamaguchi says, looking into Tsukishima’s eyes with his own and Tsukishima can feel his heart flutter.

He starts with telling Yamaguchi about every stupid thing his brother’s done, which includes how he met Saoko and then moves on to his relationship with Saoko, which leads to him talking about Tanaka and Noya, and soon he’s telling Yamaguchi about every person he’s ever met with no hesitation. The rain patters on the window as the evening turns to night and all light save for a lamp has left the apartment.

Tsukishima only stops when he realises Yamaguchi’s staring at the bit of skin exposed by the too small sweater. Tsukishima’s cheeks flush. He clears his throat and moves closer to Yamaguchi.

“Hey”, he chokes out. “This’s been on my mind for a while but- that night, when I first met Iawizumi.”

Yamaguchi nods, eyes half lidded and a soft expression on his face.

“You leaned in and I was just wondering”, Tsukishima continues, pulling himself closer to Yamaguchi again. He’s just realising how long Yamaguchi’s eyelashes are.

“Why?”

Now it’s Yamaguchi’s turn to lean in. “Why do you think?” he asks.

“I know what I want the reason to be, and I’m starting to think I’m right. I really hope I am anyway.”

Yamaguchi closes the gap between them.

Tsukishima leans into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Yamaguchi’s waist and pulling him towards him.

Yamaguchi’s lips are chapped and dry and everything Tsukishima has ever wanted. Their kiss is messy, uncoordinated, and desperate as they let weeks- _months_ of built up tension out in a matter of minutes. Yamaguchi wraps his arms around Tsukishima’s shoulders and takes the chance to deepens their kiss. He bites down on Tsukishima’s bottom lip and Tsukishima all but pulls Yamaguchi onto his lap. Tsukishima moves his hands down to Yamaguchi’s hips and holds him with a tight grasp.

Yamaguchi moves his attention from Tsukishima’s lips to his jaw and neck as one of Tsukishima’s hands dip under Yamaguchi’s sweater and moves his hand up and down his back, feeling every small shift and twitch of his muscles.

They part for a moment to catch their breath but Yamaguchi soon presses back and Tsukishima falls back onto the couch with Yamaguchi’s legs on either side of his waist.

When they part again, Tsukishima’s in a daze. He’s filled with adrenalin, _ecstasy,_ and they’re all bubbling up in his chest waiting to burst out.

Yamaguchi’s the first to speak.

“So… how long ha- have you wanted to do- _that_.”

“Well I mean, I wouldn’t have _objected_ to it when we first met”, Tsukishima answers and moves his hands back down to Yamaguchi’s hips.

Yamaguchi’s face goes red. He grabs one of the cushion pushed aside in the heat of the moment and smushes it in Tsukishima’s face accompanied with him choking out a strangled “ _Tsukki!_ ”.

Tsukishima chuckles and pulls the cushion out of Yamaguchi’s grasp and drops it on the floor beside him. Yamaguchi huffs but Tsukishima doesn’t reply, only pulls Yamaguchi down so he’s resting on Tsukishima’s chest.

Yamaguchi frowns at him but wraps his arms around his neck nonetheless.

“Just for that I’m sleeping right here and if you wake me up I’m gonna be really cranky”, Yamaguchi mutters before he closes his eyes.

Tsukishima smiles and after a moment's hesitation kisses the top of Yamaguchi’s head. He then closes his eyes with the nervousness in his stomach gone and the rain pelting down the the window.

* * *

 

Tsukishima wakes up to soft brown hair in his face and the warmth of someone clinging to him with a grasp like death.

Disoriented and confused, there’s a subdued panic when he’s putting together what happened.

He looks out Yamaguchi’s apartment window at the rising sun, painting the sky a thousand different hues of pinks and oranges and reds. He then turns his attention to the sleeping body beside him.

Yamaguchi is curled up beside him, head resting on his shoulder and arms wrapped around his chest. Tsukishima’s hands are still loosely draped around Yamaguchi’s hips. He’s breathing softly in a steady rhythm with a peaceful expression on his face, fringe falling over his eyes ever so slightly.

Tsukishima watches him sleep for a moment with a sense of ease. He then pulls Yamaguchi closer to him, resting his chin on the latter’s head and falls back to sleep, feeling fully content for the first time in a long time.

* * *

 

“So, you gonna tell them soon, it’s been a week you know.”

“Wait wait wait! I think we should actually _meet_ Kei’s boyfriend before he tells Bokuto and Kuroo.”

“Yeah come on Tsukishima, let us meet the guy. I wanna see how he manage to woo you~.”

“Hey and how come we haven’t met him before? Embarrassed by us or something?”

Tsukishima glares at Saoko, Tanaka, and Noya in turn and almost trips over the curb. Of all the places to have this conversation, the middle of Republic City on the way to practice may not be the best. He steadies himself and looks over at Akiteru, the first one to speak.

“I’m thinking of telling them soon. I know I can’t hide this from them forever- even if i wanted to- but I think they might take it better now that it’s almost been nine months”, Tsukishima mumbles.

Akiteru nods in reply. “Okay and you’re gonna invite him over for Saturday because you love me and want your family to meet your new boyfriend who makes you very happy.”

Tsukishima rolls his eyes and looks away.

“I’ll take that as a yes”, Akiteru hums.

“Can I bring Ennoshita? He counts as family right?” Tanaka asks.

“Like _hell_ I’m letting either you or Noya anywhere near Yamaguchi”, Tsukishima snaps.

Noya gasps in mock shock. “Tsukishima! How could you say we’re not family like that? I have cared for you and been there through good and bad times. I can’t understand- _believe_ \- that you’re disrespecting me and Ryuu like this!”

Tsukishima groans.

“Whatever, if you embarrass me I’m never talking to any of you ever again”, he replies before turning the street corner.

“That’s what family’s for Kei!” Saoko yells at his retreating figure.

“Have fun at training”, Akiteru adds.

Tsukishima doesn’t even try to argue with Saoko and instead tries to push the conversation out his mind before training.

When he arrives, Tsukishima immediately wants to turn back.

Bokuto and Kuroo are huddled together, shoulder to shoulder, hunched over something Tsukishima can’t see. Their whispers are panicked and frantic, making Tsukishima more nervous with dachshund step towards them he takes.

By now he’d rather let Akiteru tell Yamaguchi every embarrassing story he has of Tsukishima and whip out the photo album, where there are at least eighteen photos of him dressed up as Avatar Kuruk- all taken on separate occasions than deal with his two teammates in their state of panic.

But.

“What are you two doing?” he asks, peering over their shoulders in an attempt to see what they're looking at. From what he can tell it’s a letter with Kuroo’s name on the top but that’s all he can see before they both yelp and pull away from each other.

“When did you get here?” Bokuto asks with a look of fear mixed with panic.

“Like two minutes ago and more importantly what is _that_?” Tsukishima says and leans towards Kuroo to get a better look at the letter. He doesn’t recognise the writing and now the worry that’s been gnawing at him takes a huge bite out of him.

Kuroo shifts and clutches the letter in both his hands. A moment of silence follows before Tsukishima hears a soft mumble, “It’s from Daichi.”

Tsukishima’s eye widen. “Sawamura? But didn’t you two…” Tsukishima trails off at the end when he sees Kuroo’s forlorn face. It’s easy to open up old wounds again.

“Yeah I know we… y’know. But one day after he left for the Earth Kingdom I got an apology letter from him because he thought we…” Kuroo pauses for a moment before continuing, “ _ended things_ on a bad note and we just kept at it and we kinda just, fell back into our old ways and I’m realising that it was kinda stupid for us to break up like that and now Daichi’s finishing his work over there and he’s gonna be back and I don’t know what to do.”

“As you can see it’s been weighing on his mind a tad”, Bokuto adds at the end as he comes up behind the latter and places a hand on either shoulder.

Tsukishima raises an eyebrow. “So you knew about this too.”

Bokuto shakes his head. “Poor Tetsu here just ran in here with tears streaming down his face and he told me everything.”

Kuroo grumbles something in reply and turns away in shame.

Tsukishima sighs, but still leans over so he’s in Kuroo’s face. Kuroo’s still holding onto the letter with an iron grip, like it’s his only connection to Sawamura.

“You know he probably feels the same, right? He always had a soft spot for you”, Tsukishima says, with a surprising gentleness that catches Kuroo off guard.

“Since when were you so- _sympathetic_ ”, Kuroo says, the disbelief evident in his tone. Bokuto stifles a laugh behind him.

Tsukishima frowns and replies, “I don’t see what the big deal is.”

Bokuto’s eye light up and he cracks a smile that could rival Kuroo’s cheshire-cat grin.

“Hey Tsukishima do you remember when Tanaka was eight and his pet hamster, Lau, died-”

“Bokuto wait no-”

“And he was like, really bummed out about it so we all had to hold a funeral for it and-”

“Bokuto I swear if you don’t stop _right now_ -”

“And just as Noya and Saoko lowered Lau into their grave, you turn to Tanaka- who’s still crying buckets- and say-”

“ _Bokuto_ -”

“‘God why do you care so much? It was only a rat that ate its own poop, just buy another’.”

Kuroo sputters and starts howling with laughter while Tsukishima turns a incredulous shade of red.

“Where did you even hear that story? You didn’t even know me back then!”

Bokuto wheezes out Saoko’s name in between laughs.

Tsukishima glowered and turned away.

“Can’t we just get to training? Last time I try to be helpful if this is how it ends.”

“Oh thank God he’s back to his old self. I was worried for a minute. Must be because of how in love he is with his mystery boyfriend.”

Tsukishima turns around already armed with water.

* * *

 

Tsukishima closes his front door on Tanaka and Noya’s yells and everyone else's farewells and he hears a soft laugh from Yamaguchi.

He takes a deep breath before look at Yamaguchi and saying, “I am so so sorry you had to go through that.”

This just makes Yamaguchi laugh even more.

“Your family’s sweet, it’s clear they care about you”, Yamaguchi says as he looks up at Tsukishima with adoration in his eyes. Tsukishima doesn’t know how he got so lucky.

“It’s nice, knowing that you’ve got so many people who love you”, Yamaguchi continues, looking out on the almost-set sun. The sky was a mix of the most breathtaking shades of pinks and purples and the moon was peeking out over the horizon.

“Besides”, Yamaguchi starts again. “It’s not like Oikawa and Suga were any better when I told them we were dating. Remember when they invited themselves into my place and sat in between us the whole times?”

Tsukishima rolls his eyes at the memory. He can still clearly recall their limp excuse and how they made a point to separate the two as much as possible.

“But it’s fine now. They’ve calmed down- even if it is only slightly”, Yamaguchi says with a soft laugh, reaching out for Tsukishima’s hand, hesitant to grab onto it. Tsukishima looks at his downcast face for a moment. In this light the dark circles under his eyes look like bruises and all Tsukishima wants to do is make him lie down and _rest_ for once. He doesn't say this out loud though, voicing his concern for others had never been his strong suit.

Without a word, Tsukishima reaches for Yamaguchi’s hand and holds it the whole walk home.

* * *

 

Bokuto sits cross-legged in the the middle of the training hall, laughing at a joke Kuroo told him. Kuroo grins down at Bokuto and joins him on the floor, passing him a water bottle.

Tsukishima takes a deep breath. _Today’s the day_ , he thinks and walks over to them, head held high and expression unreadable.

“Uhm, Bokuto, Kuroo? There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while.”

Bokuto’s eyes light up and he gasps. “Are we finally gonna find out who your boyfriend is

?”

Tsukishima rolls his eyes, but nods nonetheless.

Kuroo whoops and turns himself around to look straight at Tsukishima. Both Bokuto and Kuroo stare up at him and he takes another deep breath.

“So first off, sorry for not telling you for so long”, Tsukishima starts.

Bokuto and Kuroo nod.

“And I need you two to promise not to freak out, can you do that for me?”

Bokuto and Kuroo nod again.

“So anyway yes, I have a boyfriend. We’ve been dating for a few months, and his name his-”

Tsukishima is cut of by the sound of doors clanging over and whips his head around to see a frantic Sugawara running into the room.

“Sugawara? What’re you doing here?” Tsukishima asks, trying to ignore the anxiety building up in his stomach.

“Wait you know him?” Bokuto says and Tsukishima winces at the confusion in his voice.

“Tsukishima, you gotta come with me. It-it’s Yamaguchi, he collapsed from exhaustion this morning”, Sugawara says, gentle and calming as always but that doesn’t stop Tsukishima’s heart from freezing and his feet from swaying.

“Where is he?” Tsukishima asks, voice hoarse from his suddenly dry throat.

“Yugoda Hospital, let’s go”, Sugawara says.

“I’m uh, really sorry about this by the way”, he says to Bokuto and Kuroo.

The two leap up and Kuroo puts a comforting hand on Tsukishima’s shoulder. “We’re coming too”, Kuroo says.

“If that’s okay”, Bokuto adds with the somber tone Kuroo used.

Sugawara nods and Tsukishima’s eye widen.

“What, not like we’re gonna leave you wait alone for your boyfriend in a stuffy waiting room by yourself”, Kuroo says.

“Wait how-” Tsukishima starts but Bokuto cuts him short.

“Tsukishima I know I’m not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer but even I could connect the dots after Sugawara came in.”

Tsukishima lets out a short laugh and looks back at Sugawara.

The four the of rush out of the building, making their way to Yugoda Hospital.

* * *

 

Tsukishima bursts into Yamaguchi’s room only to find the man sitting up, eating a cup of pudding and humming away to himself.

He looks up at Tsukishima, seemingly unphased but the crashing of the door and stomping of Tsukishima’s feet.

“Oh hey Tsukki.”

“‘Oh hey’? You honest to God _collapse_ from sheer exhaustion and you just ‘Oh hey’ me?” Tsukishima asks and walks towards Yamaguchi.

Yamaguchi puts down his pudding and retreats back into the mound of pillows by his back before looking down at the white sheets of his bed.

“Didn’t want you to be worried.”

Tsukishima sighs, sits down on the edge of the bed and for once, with no hesitation, holds Yamaguchi’s hand.

“Tadashi, of course I’m worried. I love you for crying out loud.”

It came out a lot easier than Tsukishima ever expected it to. He wouldn’t have realised he admitted it if not for Yamaguchi staring up at him with surprise and squeezing his hand.

“I love you too.”

Tsukishima smiles and rubs comforting circles into Yamaguchi’s hand. He then leans in and places a kiss on Yamaguchi’s forehead.

“So what did the doctor’s say, will you be able to compete this season, it starts in two months y’know”, Tsukishima says, pulling away enough to give Yamaguchi room to breathe.

“They said if I take it easy for the next while I should be fine. It’s nothing serious plus I _am_ pretty healthy besides the amount of coffee I drink”, Yamaguchi responds, kissing Tsukishima’s cheek.

Tsukishima nods and pulls Yamaguchi in for a hug.

Their next kiss is chaste, sweet and Tsukishima hopes- prays- that Yamaguchi can tell how much he loves him from that kiss.

Tsukishima rests his chin on Yamaguchi’s head and wraps his arms around his shoulders.

He closes his eyes and lets out a final sigh of relief.

“I was so _so_ worried”, he whispers, wishing that he could keep holding Yamaguchi like this forever.

“‘M sorry”, Yamaguchi mumbles.

“It’s fine, just please never scare me like that again, okay?”

Yamaguchi’s answer is him wrapping his arms around Tsukishima’s waist and holding him as close as he possibly can.

 

* * *

 

Tsukishima rolls over onto his side, morning light filtering in through the blinds. He groans and looks over at the sleeping figure at his side.

Yamaguchi snores softly as his chest rises and falls with each breathe.

Tsukishima smiles and pulls him closer, peppering kisses along his jaw and neck.

Yamaguchi scrunches his nose in his sleep and groans. He opens his eyes slowly and lets out a hoarse “Tsukki.”

“Morning”, Tsukishima replies before continuing to kiss his boyfriend.

Yamaguchi huffs but still smiles.

“Time for practice, only two weeks left”, Tsukishima says as he moves to get out of their shared bed.

“Two weeks until I wipe the floor with you”, Yamaguchi mumbles and stumbles out of bed.

Tsukishima snorts. “Yeah sure thing Tadashi.”

Yamaguchi kisses him, slow and deep, clutching onto Tsukishima’s nightshirt.

When they part Yamaguchi rests his head on Tsukishima’s shoulder.

“Carry me?”

Tsukishima sighs.

“You’re unbelievable”, he answers but scoops Yamaguchi up in his arms and carries him out to the kitchen with Yamaguchi’s laugh ringing in his ear.

**Author's Note:**

> Can you tell I've never read a Tsukkiyama fic in my entire life?  
> Anyway happy birthday to one of my dearest friends in the entire world and I hope you have a great day and enjoyed my present to you!
> 
> [Tumblr.](http://diesel-san.tumblr.com) (not very active atm tho- exams are tough)


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